June 10, 2013

East Asia Mission: 35 - Photos of the Great Wall of China

Today, June 10, 2013, we traveled via car/taxi from the Princess d'Annam Resort on the South China Sea to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). The journey took 4 and 1/2 hours. Thankfully, we had been guided to wrap things up before we departed, for Ho Chi Minh City is a loud, messy, active, busy city that is jarring to anyone's sensitivity. We were pleased to get to our relatively new, modern and quiet hotel that is away from the hectic downtown area. We plan to hunker down while we are here and get some rest before taking our flight to Shanghai.

Neither of us got anything in meditation this morning before leaving the coast. On the way, we felt indications that we were being watched over by those in the higher planes, especially Summalt, Sol-O-Man and our Vietnamese higher astral plane guides. However, we had no new guidance or insight from them. We are now in traveling mode, cloaked and protected.

While here at the hotel, I thought I would post some photos of our trip to the Great Wall of China, way back when we were in Beijing, which now seems like a year ago. So, enjoy the photos and together we can re-anchor the dome of light over this area, or add to the anchoring of it, as we look at the pictures.

Above is at the staging or starting area for climbing up this particular segment of the Great Wall. From the photo, you can see that it was another overcast day, so typical of our entire time in China. If memory serves me right, we only had about one day when there was blue sky. Anyway, the wonderful thing is that this section of the wall is not visited that often, so there were not that many people here. You also begin to get an idea from this picture how steep and long the climb is from here to the stations or towers at the top of the wall. It was to be quite a hike, which somehow we had not expected.

Right from the start, we were rather amazed at how large the wall is. And how tall it is. Physically, it is an incredible feat, having been done all by manual labor. At the same time, however, you start to think what a colossal waste of time, materials, energy and human life it was. Estimates are that over 1 million Chinese were conscripted to build, rebuild and expand this wall, which in the long run was only partly effective for short periods of time. Untold thousands lost their lives for this project.

At the start of the climb, local Chinese women "befriend" you and help you along the way. Unlike at other tourist sites, they don't try to sell you books, t-shirts, postcards, fans and such until after your return back to the starting point. By that time, they have been so helpful that you really want to buy something from them. And so we did.

To the left, you see one of these ladies helping MariLyn climb some of the steep steps, which must have been 16-24 inches high. Back home in Tennessee, MariLyn and I love to go for daily walks, but needless to say we never climb up such steps.

MariLyn had on her double harmony T-shirt. Inside the gold/brown circle, side by side, are two of the Chinese character for the word Xi, which means happiness or joy. This double happiness representation is found at most Chinese weddings, because it symbolizes the double happiness of marriage.

At about the time of this picture, however, MariLyn actually was not all that happy, and neither was I. We already were too pooped to be happy. Ha. And yet, we kept trekking up and ahead. We were determined to make it to the top, and so we did.

Here we are, having climbed up still higher. And note that we are smiling! From this shot, you can begin to see some of the vast panorama of mountains that are all around the wall. In the final analysis, to us, viewing these mountains were the most uplifting part of the trip.

Above, youi see more of the vista and the mountains that go on and on and on and on. As you know, I love being atop mountains, so this was a special joy for me. Moreover, after we had been in Beijing for 4 days, a huge, busy, hectic place, we loved being out in nature.

This was one of the steepest sections of the wall, with the highest steps. Now MariLyn has two helpers. It was not too long after this that MariLyn and I reached the top of this section of the wall, got off the wall and out and onyo the mountain, and had our meditation.

As I wrote in my blog, may all "walls" come tumbling down, as we focus on peace, love, cooperation and coordination. So be it.